Directions For Drug Provers – Lil-tig


The prover should find out by experiment, and should carefully state, what circumstances aggravate or ameliorate the pain (or other symptoms), and note its periodical recurrence, because periodicity is a very important element in the history of the action of drugs. …


GIVEN TO THE WOMEN WHO PROVED LILIUM TIGRINUM.

The object in proving a drug is to ascertain the changes which the drug is capable of producing in the functions and organs of the healthy body.

It is very important that each prover should know and be able to recognize the various sensations and variations of function to which she may, by peculiarity of constitution, be subject when in average health; so that she may not, while proving a drug; mistake such natural variations for effects of a drug.

The prover should have at hand, at all times, a note-book, in which to record the times of taking the drug and the doses, as well as the symptoms as they occur. The record should be made as soon as the symptom is perceived, and the time of its occurrence and the circumstances of the prover at the time should be recorded.

Before beginning the record of a proving, the prover should inscribe in the note-book a statement of her age, temperament, the sicknesses which she has had, and those to which she has an inherited or acquired tendency; also whatever pains or sensations she may be habitually subject to; also any peculiar susceptibilities she may possess to external influences of any kind, or to mental or moral or emotional excitements, depressions, or perversions. Her constitutional peculiarities respecting the menstrual function should be carefully recorded; regarding frequency, quantity, character, and whatever inconveniences or sufferings precede, accompany, or follow menstruation; such as headache, backache, colic, leucorrhoea, etc., together with peculiar states of mind or emotion.

In describing sensations or pains which may occur during a proving, it is not sufficiently definite to say “pain in the head,” “pain in the back,” etc. The character and locality of the pain must be exactly described in graphic language, stating, for example, that the pain is “cutting,” “burning,” “sticking,” etc., and specifying its location, and, if it move, its course.

The prover should find out by experiment, and should carefully state, what circumstances aggravate or ameliorate the pain (or other symptoms), and note its periodical recurrence, because periodicity is a very important element in the history of the action of drugs. For example: is the pain worse when the prover stands, or sits or lies down, worse during exercise and better during rest, worse on first waking, worse in the cold and relieved by heat, worse or better from touch or pressure, etc., etc. All such conditions of aggravation or amelioration should be carefully recorded.

If the pain move from one part of the body to another, the fact and the course of the pain should be recorded.

The sides of the body on which symptoms occur should always be stated.

The times of occurrence, aggravation, and amelioration are very important elements; as, in the morning or afternoon; at night, before or after midnight, or waking from sleep; just before or after eating, etc., etc.

Changes in the quantity, quality, and appearance of the natural secretions should be carefully described. The urine, for instance, should be measured and the quantity per day recorded; it should be tested for acid and albumen, and whatever sediment it may deposit should be carefully described. Modifications of the menstrual functions should be most carefully recorded; such as its greater or less frequency or quantity; alterations of color and consistency; whether acrid or not; pains and discomforts of body or mind which precede, accompany, or follow it.

Secretions not observed by the prover when in health such as leucorrhoea, unusual perspirations, etc. should be described, as to color, consistency, odor, nature; whether bland or acrid, times of occurrence, and circumstances which increase or diminish them, and symptoms which accompany them.

If organic symptoms occur, such as eruptions or suspected enlargements or displacements of organs, it is well to consult a physician in order to ascertain the exact condition, which should be carefully described.

The records should be full and minute. It is better to be obliged to erase something afterward, than to risk the less of an important symptom by aiming at brevity.

The dose should be taken at a time when the prover can rest, in mind and body, for a half hour after taking it. The early morning is the best time, for then the prover will have a chance to observe the action of the drug for fifteen to eighteen hours without interruption by sleep. It is better to begin with a small dose, gradually increasing it until effects are recognized, and then to cease taking the drug until these effects have ceased. It may then be repeated in a somewhat larger dose. No danger of permanent illness is incurred by this mode of proving drugs.

During a proving, the prover should abstain from the use of medicines, cosmetics and perfumes, but should make no marked deviation from her usual diet and regimen. Habits of so long standing as to have become “second nature” should be continued in moderation, since to break them off suddenly is to institute at once a morbid state.

LILIUM TIGRINUM

A SUMMARY OF A FEW PROVINGS UPON WOMEN.

My studies have, for years past, shown me the weakness of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica in respect of the physiological effects of drugs upon the peculiar organism of women. This is due to the fact that but few of the provers to whose observation we owe our Materia Medica were women. I have not been able to imagine any method by which this deficiency in the Materia Medica could be supplied, except by the voluntary acts of women, who should undertake to prove drugs. And it has seemed to me improbable that this work could be performed with the requisite accuracy and intelligence unless the women who should undertake it were educated in the medical sciences. Finally, it appeared to me that women who had become by education and asquirements members of the medical profession, would not be likely t o take a hearty and efficient part with us in the great work of perfecting the vital element of our science, the Materia Medica, unless they were recognized and received by us as fellow-workers on an equal footing in every respect, for a similar reason to that which led Mr. Dickens to decline the Queen’s invitation to give a reading at Windsor Castle, saying, “I will not appear as an artist where I should not be received as a man,” and, conversely, I thought that if so received they would respond cordially and generously to an invitation to engage in the work for the promotion of medical science, and in a department in which they alone could work, and the completeness of which would be forever a monument of their ability and devotion.

When, therefore, at the session of the Institute in 1869 a resolution was pending which declared the eligibility of properly qualified, women to membership, I determined to invite women who had joined the medical profession to engage in the labor of proving drugs, feeling confident that the results of their work would demonstrate how valuable and indispensable it is to the completion and perfection of our Materia Medica. The result even thus far have justified this confidence. More than thirty women, most of them members of the profession, responded cordially to my invitation, and entered upon the work of drug-proving. One-third of the number have already reported results of a satisfactory nature, and of which I here present a summary.

The drug selected for proving was the Lilium tigrinum the tiger-lily which was introduced into the Materia Medica by Dr. W. E. Payne, of Bath, Me., who had communicated to us just enough to show that it had a powerful specific action upon the female organism. The symptoms were known, however, only to members of the Institute. I thought that by engaging a number of provers in different parts of the country, in a simultaneous proving of this drug, utterly unknown to most, if not all of them, I should receive reports which, if they should corroborate each other, would be very conclusive as to the action of the drug.

Inasmuch as this drug belongs by right of discovery t o Dr. W. E. Payne, I have turned over to him the verbatim reports received from my provers, that he might incorporate them with his own, and prepare the whole for publication in the Transactions of the Institute.

The first proving, and which I shall give in greatest detail, was made under my own observation and direction, by a lady of 30 years, unmarried, a practicing physician, and who had always enjoyed good health, although quite susceptible to the action of drugs.

No. 1. She began her proving Oct. 1, 1869, by taking three drugs of the 30 centesimal dilution of Lilium tigrinum thrice daily. She reports as follows:

“I first noticed that I was more active; things went easily. There was no other effect for four days, unless it was increased sexual instinct; then sweetish nausea, with fullness of the abdomen, particularly after eating even after eating small quantities. But food does not increase the nausea; no desire to vomit.

Carroll Dunham
Dr. Carroll Dunham M.D. (1828-1877)
Dr. Dunham graduated from Columbia University with Honours in 1847. In 1850 he received M.D. degree at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. While in Dublin, he received a dissecting wound that nearly killed him, but with the aid of homoeopathy he cured himself with Lachesis. He visited various homoeopathic hospitals in Europe and then went to Munster where he stayed with Dr. Boenninghausen and studied the methods of that great master. His works include 'Lectures on Materia Medica' and 'Homoeopathy - Science of Therapeutics'.